Speculative stock of the day: THC +75.24% (insiders tip days ago)- Distribution agreement in Europe with Endoca, a world leader in the supply of high quality CBD products. It has sales of over EUR50m pa.

Biggest risers – DLX, ACX, XRO, SPL, BIN, ELD and MOE

Biggest fallers – PLS, MSB, KDR, WSA, MND, SXY and CLQ.

TODAY

Dulux Group (DLX) +6.10% Reported a net profit of $142.9m up 9.6% on the previous year. A final dividend of 13.5c has been declared. Management said they “expect that 2018 net profit after tax will be higher than the 2017 equivalent of $142.9m.

AWE limited (AWE) – Is set to raise around $48m via capital raising to help strengthen its balance sheet and fund part of its Waitsia natural-gas project in Western Australia. AWE said it would issue around 77m shares in an institutional placement which will be priced at 50c each, a discount of almost 11% to the last closing price. Following that, an offer limited to $10m will be offered to shareholders in Australia and New Zealand.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Wages data showing wage index growth of 2% in the third quarter from 1.9% in the second quarter. Hourly wage growth excluding bonuses rose 0.48% in the September quarter, missing forecasts for a larger increase of 0.7%.

Fitch Ratings finds that mortgage arrears decreased by 15bps quarter-on-quarter to 1.02% at the end of September.

The Dinkum RMBS Index borrower payment rate increased to 21.6%, from 21.2% in the previous quarter.

The number of Australian millionaires in US dollar terms grew by 200,000 in Credit Suisse’s latest global wealth report

BOND MARKET

ASIAN MARKETS

Japan’s economy grew for a seventh straight quarter, its longest expansion since 2001, benefiting from government fiscal stimulus and massive Bank of Japan monetary easing. A recovery in exports and rising business confidence offset a decline in consumer spending to underpin a 1.4% increase in GDP in the third quarter from the previous three-month period.

Chinese state-owned drug maker ShanghaiPharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay for $557m for CardinalHealth China business, one of the country’s largest drug distributors.

Iron ore down as much as 4.6% following a disappointing round of readings from closely-watched growth gauges on Tuesday.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

The Zimbabwean army has seized power. Says Mugabe is ‘safe’ and his ‘security is guaranteed’.

Negative yields are back. US$11 trillion with sub zero yields.

Theresa May is not long in power as pressure mounts.

The UK carbontax has propelled Britain into the top 10 of a global low-carbon electricity league table faster than any other country. The amount of coal-fired power generation in Britain has fallen 80pc between 2012 and 2016. The market-based measure is currently set at GBP23 a tonne of carbon until 2020 and is designed as a “top up” to the European emissions trading system, which has languished at GBP5 a tonne on the Continent over much of the year.

And finally…..

A Jewish man was leaving a convenience store with his espresso when he noticed a most unusual Italian funeral procession approaching the nearby cemetery.

A black hearse was followed by a second black hearse about 50 feet behind the first one. Behind the second hearse was a solitary Italian man walking a dog on a leash.

Behind him, a short distance back, were about 200 men walking in single file.
The Jewish man couldn’t stand the curiosity. He respectfully approached the Italian man walking the dog and said: “I am so sorry for your loss, and this may be a bad time to disturb you, but I’ve never seen an Italian funeral like this. Whose funeral, is it?”
“My wife’s.”
”What happened to her?”
“She yelled at me and my dog attacked and killed her.”
He inquired further, “But who is in the second hearse?”
“My mother-in-law. She came to help my wife and the dog turned on her and killed her also.”
It was a very poignant and touching moment of Jewish and Italian brotherhood. Silence passed between the two men.
The Jewish man then asked “Can I borrow the dog?”
The Italian man replied, “Get in line.”